TEENS aged 13 have been granted the right to handle powerful guns as the number of legally-licensed owners in the North rockets past 62,000, the Sunday Sun can reveal.

Thousands of shotgun and firearms licences have been issued by police forces in the last 12 months.

And last night anti-gun campaigners called for action after our figures revealed 90 youngsters under the age of 18 have been handed the right to use the powerful weapons.

Figures accessed by the Sunday Sun show there is one legally-held gun for every 60 people in the North.

The statistics come less than a year after Derrick Bird carried out his shooting spree in the Cumbrian countryside and Raoul Moat launched his rampage on Tyneside.

Gateshead MP Ian Mearns last night warned it was “unacceptable” for guns like those used in the Cumbria killings to be held legally.

He said: “I think it’s incredible that such a large number of firearms and shotgun licences are held in the area. There have been a number of incidents where legally-owned weapons have been used for illegal activity.

“The age of criminality has been debated but I just don’t know what police authorities are thinking of when they give out these licences.”

In the Northumbria Police Force area, children as young as 13 have been granted a shotgun licence, while three 10-year-old boys applied elsewhere.

Of the 151 children under the age of 18 who applied for a licence, only one has been rejected, with 56 pending. Reports claim every force area outside of London has seen an increase in licenses granted.

Last night Chrissie Hall, co-ordinator of Infer Trust – a charity dedicated to helping victims of gun violence – said firearms should be kept away from temperamental teens prone to bouts of depression.

She said: “Child suicides are a major problem. The way out is very easy if there is a gun in the house. Pro-gun groups say shooting is good for their discipline, they are totally supervised, there are strict laws already, but these completely fail to address the issues.

“The more guns there are, the more likelihood we will see gun accidents, gun suicides, domestic violence and teenage boys using shotguns to coerce girls. People will resort to using their guns in times of financial stress.”

In June last year Derrick Bird launched a murderous rampage through the Cumbrian countryside that ended with his own death.

In a four-hour killing spree, Bird used a legally-held gun to kill 12 people and injure a further 11.

Bird spent the hours before the shooting spree illegally sawing down a 12-bore shotgun to make it even more deadly.

And less than one month later Raoul Moat armed himself with a shotgun and executed his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend by blasting him in the head from point-blank range.

Moat, 37, had already shot karate instructor Chris Brown, 29, twice when he calmly reloaded and shot him a third time from just a few inches.

Last night Mike Eveleigh, a senior firearms officer with the British Association of Shooting and Conservation, warned against a “knee-jerk” reaction and said Britain’s gun laws were among the strictest in the world.

Mr Eveleigh said: “Derrick Bird used a gun to kill people but he might just have used a car or anything else. There is a rise in the number of gun licences but license holders are probably among the most law-abiding people in the country. Every single person has been checked by police and these checks are even more stringent that a CRB check. There’s no need for a knee-jerk reaction – just because children have a licence doesn’t mean they have a gun. They have a piece of paper.”

Mothers Against Violence chairwoman Patsy McKie, whose son Dorrie was shot dead in 1999, said: “To give a child a gun is dangerous - they are not aware of the risk posed to themselves or to others.”